


some kind of paradise

by nevereverever



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Cobalt Soul, Fluff, Found Family, Gardening, Gen, Graduate School, Librarians, Moving In Together, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Picnics, Sick Character, Single Parents, Swearing, Thunderstorms, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24756850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevereverever/pseuds/nevereverever
Summary: A library is a place for the community. And with the right situations and a little bit of magic, it might be just the place for 8 lonely people to build a family together.(It's a Mighty Nein Library AU, y'all)
Relationships: Jester Lavorre & Beauregard Lionett, Mollymauk Tealeaf & Yasha, Nott & Caleb Widogast
Comments: 29
Kudos: 119





	1. A Flyer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, loves. First off, I would like to thank the wonderful people in the Campaign 2 Rewatch Discord who not only helped brainstorm this idea, but have also furiously supported me writing it. I love you guys, this is for you.
> 
> The title comes from the poet Jorge Luis Borges who wrote "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of a Library." 
> 
> Enjoy friends <3

**6 ROOMMATES DESIRED**  
8 Bedroom, 3 Bath Very Shitty House  
It’s really shitty and bad, probably haunted  
We cannot emphasize this enough  
We’re cool though, and the rent is like 250

“Molly, I’m really not sure these posters are going to help us find anyone. It says that our house is shitty twice.” Yasha held the piece of paper up to the bulletin board, surveying where to put it. They hadn’t brought pushpins, so she stole some from an event that happened 2 weeks prior and pinned it right to the center.

“Well, it is shitty,” Yasha nodded, “and at least this way we’ll find some interesting people.” Molly grabbed Yasha’s hand. “You trust me, right, dear?”

“Of course I trust you. I just-” she breathed out on a long sigh and squeezed his hand. “It will be a lot of new people.” She looked up at the little paper tags dangling from the poster they’d made, all with Molly’s phone number handwritten on them. It was classier, he’d said.

“New people are what will make it fun,” he tugged her away from the bulletin board and into the bright autumn sunlight. A leaf drifted down from one of the large oak trees that shaded the library. It was bright red, almost like it was a glowing ember, lit from the inside. Yasha grabbed it out of the air and held it between her fingertips.

“Look how beautiful,” she murmured under her breath. She held it up to the light and it shone like a tongue of flame. She turned to Molly, holding it out like the sacred thing it was. He took and grinned, so big and bright that it was almost hard to look.

“See, that is what we like to call a good omen. Good things will come to us from this place, just you wait.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, though he had to stand on his tip-toes to do it. “Now, onward, Yasha m’dear. We have dinner to make.” 

  
Jester Lavorre loved her job. 

She really, really did. Being a children’s librarian was all the fun of being a teacher, but none of the boring stuff like math or homework. The kids liked her, the parents were confused by her, and Beau-who-is-in-charge only sometimes told them they were being too loud. But she got to help people and make them happy and that was important.

Jester Lavorre also loved her mama. 

She really, really did. But as she was leaving work, she always got a little twinge in her stomach about going home to her mother’s house. She’d always lived with her mama, but once a day, for just a moment, she would let herself daydream about moving out.

It was in her moment of wistful thinking that her eyes caught on a flyer posted to the bulletin board next to the library’s main exit. **6 ROOMMATES DESIRED** it said. Underneath, there was a little picture of the house, and an even littler picture of a pale-skinned woman and a purple tiefling, laughing. 

She grabbed a phone number on her way out, skipping to her car. Phones were fun and all, but what was the point of being magic if you don’t use it. She spun the Traveler charm that hung from her car mirror and focused hard on the lavender tiefling from the picture. 

“Hey, I’m Jester and I saw your poster for your shitty house. You seem really cool and fun. Maybe I could live there? You pooping?”

  
“Veth, are you ready to go?” Caleb gathered his papers that he’d barely touched, his grimoire that he hadn’t opened, and a new stack of books he wanted to read and put them all carefully into his bag. 

“I just have to finish cutting these cards, then I’ll be ready,” she responded, her hands flitting over the work she still had to do. She would have to come in early to finish it because she couldn’t stay late because she was already late to pick Luc up because- She felt Caleb’s hand on her head and she let it ground her. 

“Maybe, I will go get the boy, you can get the boxes, and then we meet back at mine, ja? We can figure out where to go from there.” She looked up into his face, his blue eyes shimmering with worry. he was worried because she wasn’t finished because she was freaking out because Yeza was gone and there were bills to pay because-

“Veth.” She opened her eyes. She hadn’t realized that she’d closed them. “I’m going to go pick up Luc. You finish up here, then get the rest of your boxes.” She gave him a sharp nod.

“We’ll make it,” she murmured, her hands going back to cutting the laminated paper. She felt his hand leave her shoulder and felt the return of the creeping dread it had been chasing away. She never cut cards quite so fast.

She locked up for the night, her hands shaking. On her way out, something caught her eye. A poster pinned to the bulletin board that read **5 ROOMMATES DESIRED** , but more importantly, read a rent that she could pay, that Caleb could pay. She tore off a phone number and the paper between her fingers felt like hope. Looking back up at the sign, it read **3 ROOMMATES DESIRED**. Huh. Curious.

  
Caduceus had a problem, and it was called too many zucchinis. He was always thankful for the gifts that the Wildmother gave, but as he picked what was hopefully the final crop from the community garden, he was feeling a little overwhelmed. He wasn’t sure how many more loaves of zucchini bread he could send to Calliope before she bought a plane ticket to come "personally kick his ass."

He stowed the ripe vegetables in his bag, quietly thanking the plant for its continued bounty, even so late in the season. He looked over the garden, the deep green leaves of the spinach, yellow tomato flowers and ripe red fruit, and the slowly brightening orange of the pumpkins. All of it was a gift.

He took a deep breath in and appreciated the smell of freshly tilled soil ready for the planting of fall crops. He had an event later that week that the nice blue lady from the library had organized, some kids from the neighborhood coming to help him plant. And he was happy for the help, but sometimes it felt good to be alone with the world.

He let his eyes fall closed and listened to the soft sounds of the wind in the trees and the songbirds in the bushes and the cars driving past. He focused on his breath and let himself drift, surrounded by the offerings of his goddess and the fruits of his work.

At least, he was drifting when he was hit in the face with a piece of paper, floating on the wind. It had a phone number on it in a careful hand. Caduceus smiled. The wind brought him so many gifts.

  
Fjord was broke. Most of the grad students in his program were broke because the administration had decided that research and TA’ing which took at best 50 hours a week was not a job that deserved a living wage. 

So a part-time job at the local library it was. The extra 20 hours of pay was worth it. It was enough that he could eat and pay rent and utilities, but god, he made it to the end of the day so fucking spent. 

From: Vandran (PI)  
_Need you to run the gels for 6.1 by end of day Friday_

Fjord sighed and scrubbed his hands up and down his face. A single text to ruin his lunch break. His sandwich sat in front of him on the picnic table, untouched. 

To: Vandran (PI)  
Can I get one of the undergrads to do it? I’m swamped working on analysis this week.

_Marius is sick and Nadir is focusing on x-ray crystallography_

Alright. I’ll come in tomorrow morning to finish it.

He looked down at the clock on his phone. 5 minutes of lunch left. He thought about getting someone to cover his shift, but he didn’t know who to ask. Everyone he worked with was nice enough, but he didn’t have time to get to know them. He didn’t feel right asking anyone to pick up his slack when he barely knew them. Maybe the weird halfling woman whose name he kept forgetting, but she always seemed like she had places to be.

The timer on his phone went off, and he realized all at once that he had 3 hours of his shift left. It was just reshelving, he’d make it. He stopped at the bulletin board to delay getting back to work for just a few more seconds, relishing the shade of the building on a hot day and the fresh air.

One poster caught his eye. It said **2 ROOMMATES DESIRED**. There were 2 little slips left on the bottom and he pulled one of them off. Better to pay less rent, and his lease was up soon, though he wasn’t sure exactly what kind of people advertised their own apartment as shitty.

  
A knock came at the door to Beau’s office. She would have been annoyed if she hadn’t seen the grinning blue face of Jester, the children’s librarian that worked downstairs. She would have been so annoyed that someone was interrupting her finishing this fucking grant proposal, but Jester always managed to make her feel less like she wanted to punch through a window. 

“It’s open,” she called. Jester opened the door, her brightly colored skirts swishing around her. Her dress has watermelons on it today, and there was some marker scrawled near its hem. She plopped down in the chair across Beau’s desk.

“Oh hi, Beau!” Jester said as if she was surprised to see her in her own office. Beau held back a smile. “I have a question for you.” Her accent curled around the words and rounded out the vowels in a way that was disarmingly endearing.

“Does it involve more vandalism? Not saying that I’m opposed.” Jester laughed like a cool creek on a hot day.

“It isn’t vandalism if it’s your own stuff, silly goose. No, I want to know where you live,” Beau raised her eyebrow, “Because I think that you should move in with me.”

“I live in the Cobalt Soul dorm complex. You think I should move in with you?” Beau closed the lid of her computer. Something fluttered in her chest that she told to sit down and shut up. She would not have a crush on her coworkers. She might, however, move out of her shitty, claustrophobic room in the monastery. 

“I do. Because you seem sad all the time Beau. And I’m like, a really good healer.” Jester extended her arm across the table. Gripped in her fingers was a little slip of paper with a carefully written phone number. Beau sighed.

“I’m not sad all the time,” she said. She took the slip of paper and Jester grinned. 

On the bulletin board outside, a single flyer came loose from its stolen pins. It drifted to the ground before being caught by the breeze. It flew across the parking lot, over the rush hour traffic, and landed, improbably, in a recycling bin. 

**ALL ROOMMATES ACQUIRED**.


	2. A Calendar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moving into the new (old) house and meeting the odd collection of people who think this just might be the change they need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello buddies! This chapter and the next chapter were supposed to be one, but I decided to split it up because it was getting unwieldy. It has been a busy week (I just moved!) but it has been a joy writing this so far. I hope y'all enjoy!

Mollymauk Tealeaf was something of a prolific liar. Theatre is, after all, just lying. Reading someone else’s words and lying so well that people believed they were yours. That wasn’t the way he usually explained it to his students, but it was true nonetheless. 

He wasn’t lying that the house he and Yasha lived in was very shitty. The man they rented it from, Desmond, told them when they first arrived that the place was theirs to do with what they like so long as they left it better than they found it. The roof sagged and the floors creaked and the taps dripped and it was magnificent.

On the fridge, he hung a calendar, one he picked up at the book fair at the school that had a different chicken for each month. He wasn’t sure exactly why he’d bought it, just that it made him happy and who was he to deny himself small pleasures.

Penciled throughout the week in Yasha’s messy handwriting were the names of each of their new housemates. She said it was so she wouldn’t forget which one was which, but he saw the tentative smile on her lips when she looked at it, imagining what it would be like to have a full home.

**Friday, September 7th**

Jester came first. All of her boxes were organized by color, and she quickly claimed the room next to the kitchen on the ground floor. When Molly came home from school, the house was loud with music and the sounds of pots and pans clanking. The air smelled like cinnamon.

School was exhausting, as always. They were just starting the new semester, and his students were not expert liars yet, neither in their acting nor their bullshit reasons for not turning in their homework. There were a couple, though, (there always were, they were the reason he kept that stupid, shitty paying job) that were excited and talented and smart. 

He found her in the kitchen, singing to herself. It was a song in Infernal that he'd never heard before. He leaned against the wall and just listened for a minute. 

"You have a lovely voice," he remarked casually. She looked up from the pot she was stirring and caught his eyes with a sparkling smile.

“Wait, you’re Molly, right?” He nodded. Her hands fluttered at her sides and before he could process what was going on he had a faceful of blue hair and she was hugging him so tightly he could barely breathe. He hugged back, grinning. She let him go after a second.

“I’m Jester.” She stuck out her hand for him to shake like she hadn’t just given him a bear hug. She had freckles dotting her cheeks and a bright smile.

“Well, Jester,” Molly bowed down theatrically and pressed a kiss to her outstretched hand. “I like you already.”

**Saturday, September 8th**

Caduceus Clay was a simple kind of man. He had a few things he needed, things that he could not live without. He’d lived alone for so long, just him and the earth and the remains beneath the soil. He didn’t want to go, but he needed to go, that he knew. The wind had called him.

Before he left, though, he very carefully took up some moss and a few wild primroses. Giving them a place in his new home was the first thing he did when he arrived. After a while, he could feel someone watching him, but he continued about his work, grounding himself in this new place.

“There you go, little one,” he muttered to the plant in his hands. He pressed down the soil around its roots. “We’re just where we need to be. We’re gonna be just fine.” The wind ruffled his fur and he sat back on his heels.

“Do you always talk to plants?” He turned his head to see Ms. Jester from the library, perched in the large tree that shaded the front yard. “Do you even know how to talk to people?”

“Well, I’ve talked to you before,” he replied, cocking his head at the odd question.

“Yeah, but you’ve only ever talked to me about like, the cycle of life and compost and stuff. We should talk about fun things.” Jester hopped out of the tree and sat down heavily beside him. She ran her fingers over the newly transplanted moss.

“And what kind of things are those?”

Yasha was enraptured with the fish that appeared in their living room on Saturday. She’d still yet to actually talk to the green guy who owned the fish, but Molly did always tell her to take things one step at a time. Unlike everything else the green guy brought with him, the fish tank was well maintained and beautiful, filled with small ocean fish, shrimp, and coral.

“It’s interesting, isn’t it,” a voice came from over Yasha’s shoulder. Her instinctive reaction was to lash out and she only managed to pull her punch a few inches from the man’s face. He flinched away from her fist but didn’t move otherwise.

“Whoa there,” he said gently, holding his hands out to her like she was a scared and wounded animal. His face softened and a smile flickered across his lips, though it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Sorry,” she said, taking a step back. She bumped into the tank and heard the water slosh slightly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I like your fish.” His eyes lit up.

“I like them too. I can tell you more about them if you promise not to hurt me,” she smiled and shrugged, and 'I can't promise that' kind of smile, “I’m Fjord.”

“Yasha.”

**Sunday, September 9th**

Beau didn’t have much at the monastery. That was kind of the whole point of being a monk. She had some books, some clothes, and not much else. Her office at the library was a bit brighter, but that was mostly things Jessie and Veth made with the kids and hung against her will.

She had a punching bag, and it was the first and only thing she hung in her room in the new house. She sat for a while on the wood floor, wondering when her life took the turn that led her here. Was it leaving home at 16? Was it getting assigned her job in the library? Or meeting Jester? The birds chirped outside her second-floor window. 

Someone knocked at her door. She picked up her head and saw Fjord, one of the many people she worked with who had decided to live here independent of each other, apparently. She greeted him the only way she knew how.

“Sup?” She gave him a bro nod and he bro nodded in return. She felt a smirk creep across her face. “You need something?”

“Not really. I just came to welcome you and ahh-” he rubbed the back of his head nervously, “And I was wondering if you could, you know, teach me some moves sometime?” He pointed to her punching bag sheepishly. 

“Alright,” she said, her voice a low growl. She reached for her gloves which she hadn’t gotten around to putting away. They were rough and beaten from years of use, though she now preferred to wrap her hands. She tossed them to him and he caught them clumsily.

“Right now?” He looked around, stunned, then back to her, like she would offer him an out. She didn’t, her stony eyes fixed on him, looking him over from head to toe.

“Let’s see what you got.”


	3. A Coffee Table

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A stormy night and a game of Truth or Dare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys want a little bit of Mighty Nein bonding? Because I did apparently. It'll be back to the library next chapter, but first have this one, that ate my whole ass soul. Love you, Critters!

Veth and Caleb were the last to move in. They largely kept to themselves, but they brought with them a little halfling ball of chaos called Luc. Jester took to him immediately, amusing him with little Thaumaturgy effects while Veth and Caleb moved their furniture. He couldn’t talk (yet, Veth would say, he can’t talk yet) but he did understand some sign language (he’s very smart, Veth said, signing a quick I Love You).

It rained that night, in sheets that came so thick you couldn’t see through them. The thunder raged and the lightning flashed bright enough to light up rooms. Yasha sat in the living room with her feet planted on the floor, watching the storm. Molly sat at her feet, his back pressed against her legs, talking about nothing just to fill the air with something other than the thunder.

“Yash?” he asked, nudging her knee with his horn.

“Mollymauk,” she replied, her eyes fixed on the window. The tree in their front yard blew heavily in the wind, so much that Yasha thought it might snap. She didn’t fear the storm. It made her want to move, to go with the wind, and leave behind everything she had found here. Leaving behind the new people, the loud house, and the cinnamon scones in the kitchen. 

She couldn’t leave. Molly was sitting on her feet. Perhaps that was his point. He didn’t fear the storm either.

“Will you tell me how you’re feeling?” She could feel his warm breath over her skin. He always ran warmer than she did.

“I feel…” she paused. What did she feel? She didn’t have words for the tugging in her chest, the roiling in her stomach, the aching in her bones. Instead, she wove a hand into Molly’s hair and combed through it with her fingers. “I won’t go.”

“Won't go where?" Caduceus asked, walking in from the kitchen. He had a tray of tea in his hands with 8 cups stacked carefully on its edge. Wistful thinking. "You wouldn't want to go out in this weather." Molly chortled.

“Yasha loves the rain,” he said with the laugh in his voice. Another lie, this time by omission. Caduceus smiled and sat cross-legged on the ground across from them.

"That's lovely. I like the rain too. Cleansing." He set the tray of tea in front of them on the coffee table and poured himself a cup. It was almost unnaturally fragrant, and the steam seemed to leave it in perfect curled wisps.

“That’s right. You are-- plants,” Yasha said falteringly, looking down into her hands. “You seem very kind,” she amended, her eyes baring just a hint of a smile, “could I have a cup?”

“Ooh! Me too, and one for Beau,” Jester arrived in a flurry of movement and color, dragging a disgruntled Beau behind her. Caduceus started to pour more tea, his movements careful and slow. Jester and Beau sat next to him on the ground, Beau with a heavy, pink unicorn blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

“I don’t need any tea,” Beau protested, her voice hoarse and low. Her tan skin looked sallow in the warm light. Caduceus poured her a cup anyway.

“You’re sick, silly, tea is for sick people,” Jester turned to Molly and Yasha, “Beau always says, like ‘I’m immune to disease and poison’ and then today at work I found her barfing in her office, it was super duper gross.” Beau halfheartedly punched at Jester’s arm and Jester swatted it away.

“I am immune to disease. I’m just, having an off day or whatever,” Beau grumbled into her cup, leaning heavily into Jester’s shoulder. She took a sip. “This tastes like grass clippings.”

“Thank you.” Caduceus smiled like very few people could, with an honesty that was jarring, but not off-putting. 

"Smells like yarrow and pine," Fjord said, leaning against the doorway from the kitchen. Yasha startled and Molly pressed his cheek into her leg as reassurance. The thunder rumbled so loudly the house shook.

"You made this with pine needles?" Jester spat out the sip she'd just taken.

“Yarrow, pine, rosehip, and sage.” Fjord smiled. It was the first time most of them had seen him smile, he always seemed to be working on something in the few moments he was home. He would sit in front of his computer and rubbed his forehead. He had noticed, however, that tea would occasionally appear at his side.

“May I have a cup?” Fjord asked, catching Caduceus’ eyes. 

“Of course. Are you going to sit with us?” As much as they had ever heard it, there was a challenge in Caduceus’ voice. The judgment of a quiet man.

"I think I might. I think I've gotten my work done for the day, and if anyone at my lab disagrees, at this point they can go fuck themselves." Jester giggled. Fjord sat down with a long sigh.

"Good man," Molly took a sip from his cup, “What do you work on in that lab of yours, by the way?” Fjord sighed again, bringing his hands to rub gently at his temples like he had gotten a headache just thinking about work.

“It’s developmental marine biology. We work with the genes that cause the development of the notochord in zebrafish. There’s an inhibitive enzyme called-” Fjord started to spout, rotely memorized.

“No offense, man, but that sounds boring as shit,” Beau cut in, her voice even gruffer than usual. “If you’re a researcher, then why the fuck do you work at my library?” Talking seemed to take it out of her and she leaned back into Jester’s side. The thunder rumbled louder as the storm approached.

“It’s not your library, Beau,” Jester said, rubbing her hand along her friend’s back, “It’s for the community.” Fjord hummed in agreement.

“I’m poor and I like to help people, why does anyone work at a library?” Beau said something that might have been ‘facts’ but might have also been ‘fuck.’ Her face was too hidden in Jester’s shoulder to really tell.

There was a bright flash and a loud cracking sound that made them all start. There was a sharp pop from outside, another flash, and then all the lights went out. 

There was quiet as everyone hesitated. In the dark, in a room full of people who might as well have been strangers. Someone’s mug clinked against the edge of the coffee table. The silence ate up all the air in the room until it thundered again, the storm still raging.

“Fuck,” Yasha murmured. Molly started laughing, bright and jovial as the bells Caduceus had hung around the front door. Fjord started too, his laugh deeper and a little confused. Then Jester, and Caduceus and Yasha. Beau didn’t laugh, she just coughed.

“Will somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?” a shrill voice asked from the stairwell. Their eyes were still adjusting, but they saw the figure of what at first seemed to be one very large person but was actually one regular-sized person with a small person on their back.

“Power went out,” Beau said, her words running just slightly together. 

“Ja, we can see that, or rather we cannot see that. Is someone calling the power company?” Caleb said, his voice much softer in comparison. “Nott, would you mind climbing down?”

“I thought your name was Veth,” Fjord said as she got off her human friend’s back.

“Yeah, it’s a nickname,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “You all are lucky Luc is a heavy sleeper or I might have killed one of you.”

“You still might,” Jester said, awfully cheery for sitting in the dark with a sick monk on her shoulder. “Ohh, we should light some candles and then we could have, like, a real sleepover.”

They dispersed for a bit because someone really did have to call the electric company and someone had to find the emergency candles under the sink and the scented candles in Jester’s room and someone had to check on all the little things that needed checking on. But for no reason that any of them could really pinpoint, they all coalesced back together.

They sat in silence, sipping the tea for a little while. The air was slowly getting warmer and more humid since the air conditioning went with the electricity, and it made the quiet feel sticky and the passing minutes feel slow.

“Ooh, we should play Truth or Dare,” Jester exclaimed, her voice piercing the thick calm in the air. A few of the people around the table bristled, but she was undeterred. “Okay, I’ll go first. Molly, Truth or Dare?”

“Truth,” Molly said, leaning away from Yasha’s legs. Instinctively, she grabbed his shoulder, not eager for him to leave. He put his hand on top of hers.

“Which one of us do you think is the hottest?” Jester said, wiggling her eyebrows. Beau made a displeased noise from where her head was pillowed on Jester‘s thigh.

Molly mulled it over in his head for a minute, and scanned the room, looking them all up and down. Caleb shrunk away from his gaze and Fjord nervously sipped at his tea. Jester looked down at Beau with a soft smile and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. Veth looked halfway asleep with her arm tucked beneath her head. 

They were odd, these people. He didn’t know them very well yet, but he noticed the places where they all fit together like a puzzle. He leaned back against Yasha and she relaxed her grip on his shoulder.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who isn’t beautiful,” he said, honest. 

“That’s not what I meant, Molly. This isn’t fun unless you tell us real secrets,” Jester protested. She gave him what was supposed to be a dirty look, but instead, it was just awfully cute. 

“Fine. Mmm… Fjord,” he said with a smirk if only to watch him squirm. “My turn. Caleb, Truth or Dare?”

“Oh, no, I do not want to play this game,” Caleb said, holding his hand out in front of him as if to put distance between them. His hands were shaking, barely visible in the candlelight. Molly almost felt bad for picking him, but it was just so interesting. He was interesting.

“Come on, Caleb,” Veth said. She pulled a flask from her hip pocket and took a swig. “It’ll be fun.”

“Veth-” he sighed, reaching for her wrist. She didn’t pull away, and she set down the flask. “I- I don’t- truth, I suppose.” Very interesting.

“What’s your biggest turn-on?” Yasha smacked his shoulder (it smarted, strong girl) and he grinned. Caleb looked down at his hand, clenched into a tight fist below the table, at the fading scars on his arms. 

“Someone’s mind,” his eyes flitted around the room, from the 99 cent paintings Jester hung, to the water stains on Fjord’s coffee table, not landing for long on any of them. “And if they like my cat.”

“You have a cat?” Fjord asked, incredulous. “I’m pretty sure our lease says no pets.” Caleb snapped his fingers and an orange tabby cat appeared around his shoulders. It stuck its tongue out at him. 

“Frumpkin is my familiar. Very much allowed in our lease." He reached a hand up to scratch Frumpkin behind the ears. "Ah- Beauregard. Truth or Dare?"

Beau slowly sat up from Jester's lap. She looked more than a little green in the face, and there was sweat beading at her temples.

"Dare," she said, the defiant look on her face undercut by the shiver that ran down her spine.

“Do not go in to work tomorrow," Caleb said bluntly, his eyes meeting hers fully for the first time in all the time they had known each other. Beau set her jaw.

"I'm your supervisor, dude. I can't just not show up." His eyes broke contact and he went back to staring at his hands, picking at the hem of his sleeves.

"Ja, but you are also very ill and you should not hurt yourself or others. It is a dare." 

"You can't say no to a dare, Beau," Jester teased. There was a twinge of worry that soured her cheerful tone. Beau glared at the both of them.

"Fine. But you're doing my section checks this week and I swear to god if I find one book misshelved I will break my foot off in your ass." The cat climbed off of Caleb’s shoulders and into her lap and started to purr. Caleb nodded and almost smiled, refusing to meet her eyes once more. 

"Veth. Truth or Dare," she said, gathering herself and fixing Veth with the most intense stare she could muster

"Why are we doing this?" Veth said with a shimmer of a laugh and a grimace that was almost a smile. Her hand gripped tighter around the flask.

"It will be fun," Caleb mimicked, soft and monotone, his eyes still fixed on his hands.

"Fuck it. Truth." Beau looked at her and Caleb, her eyes squinted in the low candlelight. Veth squinted right back. 

"Who was the last person you fucked?"

"My husband. Easy." She took another swig from the flask and her human friend didn't stop her. She leaned into his side, her head pressing into his waist. Beau nodded, processing, the realization slowly working its way through her fevered brain.

"You're married?" Yasha asked softly, her voice gentle and sad. Molly tipped his head back onto her knees to look up at her, at the little frown on her face. She put her hand back in his hair.

"Yup. Love of my life, father of my child.” Veth looked up the stairs towards her son. “The town I’m from- It’s not the best place to raise a kid. So, Yeza stayed, and Luc and I came here.” She trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders. The room was silent for a moment, even the pelting of the rain seemed to quiet. “Anyway, ‘s my turn now, right? Ahh, Fjord. Truth or Dare?”

“Dare.”

As much as Beau hated it, she could feel herself drifting to sleep. Jester kept doing that sweet thing that she did, scritching her well-manicured fingernails against Beau’s scalp. The candlelight and the dancing lights that someone (Caleb?) had cast made the room glow warm. The sound of the storm outside and the chatter and the stupid cat purring so loud blended into an even background hum. She put her forehead on the coffee table.

Not to sleep, just to rest for a moment. 

She woke up in her bed late the next morning with a cat still purring on her lap. The house was quiet, and it smelled like rain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (psst... other library people... do you have another name for routinely checking through a certain section to make sure everything is shelved correctly. because we totally didn't and i think that task needs a better name)


	4. A Clock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day at the library with the Mighty Nein

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello buddies. I hope you enjoy the following chapter. Just a note: I have no idea where any of this is going, if anywhere. I am completely and utterly without aim. It's just gonna be loosely collected character moments and soft M9 bonding all the way down.

8 am

Caleb liked the early mornings in the library because they were the quietest. It was always quiet there, but there were the fewest people in the mornings, and it gave him the time to study or read or copy spellwork. That was really his point when he took the job, everything else was a side effect.

His hands hovered over his keyboard as he stared at his thesis. It was done, in some ways. Parts of it were done, but they weren’t perfect, none of it was perfect. So his fingers hovered, struggling to edit when there was so much still left to do. Someone cleared their throat. He looked up and saw a young orcish woman clutching a book to her chest.

“Is there something I can help you with?” He said, closing his computer and hiding away his notes. 

“Yes, I’d like to check out this book, please.” She smiled shakily and handed him the tome and her library card. It was an old textbook, most of the text on the cover hand been worn away, but he recognized it immediately as ‘Introductions to the Art and Science of Transmutation.’ He woke up the computer at his station and hid his smile behind the monitor.

“Are you looking to become an arcane practitioner?” he asked as he went through the motions of checking the book out to her. He gave it back and she held it tightly again.

“I want to,” she said, tracing her fingers over the glyph on the cover as if she had already memorized it, “I’ve been teaching myself.”

“Well, you can only have that book for one day at a time,” he said, reaching for his bag, for his components. Her face fell. “But if you use these,” He pulled out his copying paper and pens, “you can keep one of the spells you find inside to practice.” He handed her a sheet of paper and his old pen. 

She looked down at them like they would disappear, then held them against her with the book. She smiled then turned on her heel and left.

12 pm

There was a knock at Beau’s office door. It was her favorite thing about finally having an office, that it had a door. She closed her computer and rubbed at her eyes. 

“Yeah?” She looked down at her desk. It was a wreck, covered in papers and her morning mugs of coffee. Well, whoever was at her door could take her as she was or get the fuck out of her library.

“Hello,” the person said, peeking their head through the cracked door, “Are you Expositor Beauregard?” They had a business card clutched in one hand and a journal held tightly under their arm. 

“Maybe,” Beau responded, wary of anyone who addressed her as Expositor. She leaned forward onto her elbows. “Who’s askin’?” The person stepped through the door. They looked on the human side of half-elven, their hair tied back neatly into a long dark ponytail.

“I’m Aviva. I’ve come here to ask for your guidance in becoming a monk of the Cobalt Soul.” The kid sounded like they had been rehearsing that line in their head for a while. Beau smirked.

“They’re got Archives and training centers for that, if you came to me… Are you interested in the books shit or the punching shit?” They blinked hard a few times, then looked at Beau, their eyes steely and focused.

“The investigation and reporting shit, I suppose. I want- I need to make change in the world. The Cobalt Soul is the right place to do it. You-” they took a step forward, “you are the right person to teach me. I know it.”

“Kid, I’m a research librarian who punches things in her spare time. What about this makes you think that I’m the right person-” Aviva shoved out the hand that was clutching the business card. Beau took it and looked it over. It was from someone at the Cobalt Reserve in Westruun that Beau didn’t recognize. But on the back instead of just the symbol of the Soul, there was a hastily scribbled note.

‘Beau. I know you’re busy.   
Teach them, they will help you make things better.   
You’re doing well.  
x Dairon’

Beau looked up from reading and examined the new recruit’s face for a moment. They looked tired, focused, ready.

“Fuck. Ahh… this is going to be so much paperwork.” Aviva raised an eyebrow. “But first,” Beau reached toward her waist and untied her grey initiate sash that was now hidden beneath the blue one she’d received on her assignment to her current post. She held it out. “This is yours.”

4 pm

“Okay, friends,” Jester said to the group of kids assembled at her feet, “Today we’re going to do something really cool and super fun with crayon and markers and glue and feathers and glitter and-”

“Jessie, we only have crayons and markers,” Veth said, the box of coloring supplies sitting on one hip, almost half her size. On the other hip, she had a box of fidget toys and headphones that she liked to keep handy with big groups of little ones

“Okay, well, we can use our crayons and markers and invisible glitter.” Some of the kids giggled and it made the grin on Jester’s face even brighter. “And we can use it to draw a scientist!” One of the kids raised her hand, a little dwarven girl called Barmie, who can to Craft Wednesday every week.

“What kind of scientist?” she asked without being called on. 

“Any kind you want! They could have acid or dinosaurs or fish like boring Mr. Fjord,” Veth said passing out markers and paper. 

“Acid or dinosaurs,” one of the little ones, a kenku who neither of them recognized said, her voice a perfect imitation of Veth. It was a little spooky. The little bird cocked their head and cooed, reaching out for one of the scented markers in Jester’s hand.

The kids got to work soon enough, chattering with each other about what kind of science they were going to do when they grew up and having invisible glitter fights. Every so often Jester would cast a Minor Illusion to make the glitter real, to the absolute delight of whoever had pretended to throw it. 

5:15 pm

The library closed at 5 pm on weekdays. Beau said it was because she was ‘not staying past working hours so nerds could sit and read books.’ But more practically, it was a budgeting thing, so they could be open for at least some hours on the weekends. 

The library was closed, and Yasha was just finishing closing up when she saw the young man banging on the locked front door. He looked scared, in a way that Yasha didn’t care to see people anymore. She went to the door and opened it, just a crack.

“I’m sorry, but we’re closed for the day,” she said softly, averting her eyes. His hands slid down the plate glass, falling limply at his sides.

“I know, I know,” he said, his voice shaky and full of tears, “but the internet went down at home and this college application’s due by 5:30. I don’t know where else to go.” He caught her eyes, his gaze pleading. Her brow furrowed and she looked over her shoulder. 

“Alright, but let’s be quick about it,” she said, opening the door fully and flicking the lightswitch closest to her. She booted up the nearest computer, the one behind the circulation desk, and motioned for him to sit.

“Thank you,” he said as his fingers hit the keyboard, “thank you so much."

"It's- you're- fine.” She looked over his shoulder as he frantically logged in to the application and looked over it before pressing submit. “What school is this?”

“The Alabaster Lyceum in Emon,” he looked up at her, his face painted with relief, “it’s my dream school. Thank you.” She smiled and walked him to the door, turning off the lights as she went. The sun was slowly setting over the horizon. 

“Come back and tell me when you get in, okay?” She locked the door behind her. “Tell someone you want to talk to Yasha. Or the big scary lady, that will work too.”

“I don’t think you’re scary,” he said, reaching up to put a hand on her shoulder. “Honestly, today, you’re my guardian angel.” Yasha smiled, small and delicate for a person like her, and watched as he got on a bike and rode away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Other than Beau, these are based on some Real! Library! Moments! I have had with folks. Support your public library buddies, and don't forget to love each other <3


	5. A Group Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A leetol Kiri interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ummm... oops? I done did forget to write this for a little while. I will try to forget to write it less in the future. For now, enjoy this Kiri interlude.

One Wednesday, Jester was setting out a book display, a rainbow of colors that spanned across a few shelves. There was the soft hum of activity that arrived when the kids did that Jester loved more than anything. Well, more than most things, the Traveler and her friends and her mama and doughnuts and cupcakes excluded.

She took a moment to step back and look at the mostly finished display. She pulled her hair into a ponytail out of her face and bounced on the balls of her feet. A few of the last stragglers filtered out and she waved goodbye as well as she could with her hands full of books.

They were having dinner that evening. Not the kind they usually had where everyone made something to eat and maybe made enough for others and they all sat in chairs and on the couches and the floor. A family dinner, Caduceus had called it, to the rolling eyes and laughter of their assembled friends.

Lost in thought, Jester almost didn’t notice that someone was tugging on the hem of her dress. She spun around to see the little kenku girl who had come to Crafts the last few weeks. 

“Okay, friends,” she said, a note for note imitation of Jester. She cooed and cocked her head to the side.

"We are friends, Kiri," Jester responded with a smile. She turned to finish her work but felt the little bird tugging on her dress again. She scanned the room for the gnome family that Kiri usually came with, but they were nowhere to be seen. “Do you need some help?”

“Some help?” Kiri mimicked. Jester put the book she was holding on the shelf and knelt next to her so they were eye to eye. 

“Okay! Can you tell me what you need?” Jester smiled brightly and Kiri seemed to calm a little, her feathers settling flatter.

“Everybody in the car now,” she said in what Jester recognized as the gnomish woman’s voice, then “No! Kiri!” in a man’s voice Jester didn’t know. She took a second to try to piece it together in her head. 

“Kiri, did you get left behind?” The little kenku nodded and twittered. Jester’s brow furrowed. “Oh no! That’s no good at all! Do you know their phone number? I could give them a call.” Kiri shook her head. “Well, could you tell me someone’s name? I have a magic spell that can help me talk to them.”

“Gilda Shuster, I’m from Hupperdook,” Kiri said in Gilda’s voice, then “I love you, Kiri. Sleep well, okay?” Jester frowned a little. She was usually good at knowing what Kiri meant when she mimicked, but she didn’t think she caught the full meaning of that one. Either way, she had a name and an image, which was enough to Send with. She spun the doorway bangle on her wrist and concentrated.

“Hi, Gilda! It’s Jester, the blue lady from the library. I have Kiri with me and she’s safe but I think she is probably supposed-” Jester felt the spell cut in her head, but sent another one to follow it. “- to be with you. So like, you should come get her because we close in like 10 minutes. So, just let me know, okay?”

Jester only had to wait a second.

“Oh thank goodness. We’ve been worried sick. Oh, but- the fastest I can be at the library is 30 minutes. Will you be alright until-” The spell cut off. Jester looked down at Kiri, who was peering up at her with her big yellow eyes and clutching her dress. She thought for a second, then pulled out her phone.

“Okay, Kiri, I have a really fun idea.”

Group text: The Mighty Nein

Jessie: hey!a kid got left at the library, so im gonna be late to dinner while we wait for someone to come pick her up  
Jessie: or! or someone could bring dinner here and we could have like a cute leetol picnic in the garden  
Deucey: That sounds nice. I’m done cooking, I can probably pack this stuff up for us.  
Veth: WHat kid?  
Jessie: kiri the little bird girl  
Beau: I’m just in my office so i can meet you outside  
Yash: I’ll lock up  
Veth: Jester you should teach her to swear it would be hilarious  
Jessie: !!!  
Fjord: Do not do that.  
Jessie: i have a BS in child development don’t tell me what to do  
Veth: Yeah don’t tell her what to do.  
Veth: coming, w/ luc and cay cay  
Caduceus: Fjord, will you help me with getting the food over?  
Fjord: Detained at the lab, might have to skip dinner tonight  
Beau: Fish DNA is stupid you should bail  
Mollymauk: I’ll help Caduceus  
Jessie: shes really good at saying fuck

By the time the others started to arrive at the garden, Jester, Beau, Yasha, and Kiri had managed to set out a nice little candlelit picnic, sans food. Jester had pulled a few scented candles out of her seemingly limitless bright pink backpack and Beau had a lighter in her pocket. They both seemed confused about what the other carried with them at all times.

Kiri seemed to relax once they got outside, and immediately made friends with Yasha. She was perched on the tall woman’s lap rather than the bench when Veth, Caleb, and Luc arrived, Caduceus and Molly not far behind, both with arms full of tupperware. 

“Hi Kiri,” Veth called. Kiri chirped happily back. She pointed at Luc with a feathered finger.

“The littlest gnome in Hupperdook,” she said in what sounded like one of her siblings' voices. Luc giggled and squirmed in his mother’s arms. 

“He’s not a gnome, he’s a halfling like me.” Veth put Luc down and signed ‘Safe play. Food soon, ok?’ Luc signed back ‘Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok.’ She thought he might have learned that one from Jester. He toddled off to explore the garden and she sat down heavily next to Caleb, letting some of the tension in her body unwind. Molly and Caduceus started to set out food that smelled delightful and very vegan.

“Little goblin girl,” Kiri said in Caleb’s voice. Veth and Caleb both froze for a split second. They caught each other’s eyes, fear and guilt marring Caleb’s face. Veth shrugged and pulled out her flask. She turned away from Kiri to take a sip.

“Ooh, Kiri’s full of secrets,” Beau chuckled, grabbing a bread roll from the bowl that Molly put down. She raised her eyebrow at Caleb who shook his head almost imperceptibly. 

“A different time,” Caleb muttered. Beau nodded, but there was a challenge in her eyes. Caleb schooled his face into a shaky smile. “Little Kiri, do you like cats?”

“Cats?” she replied, chirping merrily like the moment of tension had never happened. The adults at the table didn’t bounce back quite so quickly, the air was still heavy with it. Caleb snapped and Frumpkin appeared in Kiri’s arms. She laughed a laugh that wasn’t hers and started to pet him. 

“This is very cute,” Yasha said with a furrow in her brow, looking down at the bird and cat in her lap. She looked genuinely perplexed about what to do. Molly barked out a laugh and ruffled the feathers on Kiri’s head. Kiri preened and laughed his laugh back at him.

“Well, the food’s all here if you’re hungry,” Caduceus said. His knees didn’t fit under the picnic bench, so he perched on the edge of a nearby garden bed. Kiri chittered away, reaching out to steal random bits of food until Veth got the picture and made her a plate

Dusk had fallen before a large, white mini-van screamed into the library parking lot. It barely had time to skid to a stop before a very anxious, flustered gnomish woman tumbled out of it. Kiri hopped off the table and whistled a happy little tune.

“Kiri!” Gilda said, breaking into a run to gather the little bird into a tight hug. “We were so worried! What happened?”

“The 900 Bus Route is taking a detour at Stone St. All patrons for stops 13 to 15 are advised to exit the bus at this time,” Kiri said in a deep, staticky male voice. Then “We are friends, Kiri,” in Jester's lilting accent. Gilda hugged Kiri even tighter.

“Oh, I’m sorry, little one. I didn’t realize. It was very smart of you to come here. You’re a very clever girl.” She pressed a kiss to the top of Kiri’s head. She looked up at the assembled group, all in various states of eating dinner, but all smiling. 

‘Thank you,’ she mouthed. Jester brought her hands to her face, grinning so brightly it was almost like the sun had never set. Frumpkin wove between her legs, butting his head against her ankle.

“She’s very sweet,” she said, reaching out to boop Kiri on the beak. She could feel tears gathering in her eyes, though she couldn’t put a pin on why. Kiri wiggled and fluffed out her feathers. 

“Go fuck yourself!” she whistled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me a note if you like, they always brighten my day (and sometimes remind me not to abandon my WiPs)! 
> 
> And remember, if you meet an unaccompanied child, do ask them if they know how to contact their guardians and keep them calm and near where you found them, don't teach them how to say fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've got anything you want to tell me (good, bad, in-between) I encourage you to say it in the comments. In theory, I will update this time next week. As always, I love you Critters <3


End file.
